Patent EP0696121A1 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0696121A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Method and system for ensuring royalty payments for data delivered over a network
Assignee: AT&T Inc
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Filing: 1995-07-12
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2015-07-12
Abstract
Abstract A method and system for delivering data over a communication network (18) which ensures proper payment of royalties while preserving free access to data for purposes such as browsing or research. An exemplary method in accordance with the present invention includes the steps of providing a partially-degraded version (44) of the data over the network, without payment of a royalty fee, to a customer at a user terminal connected to the network; and providing a higher quality version of the data to the customer over the network if the customer is entitled to receive the higher quality version. The determination as to whether the customer is so entitled may be made by, for example, determining if a royalty fee payment has been received. The partially-degraded version of the data is substantially recognizable when displayed, printed, played, run or otherwise utilized by the customer at the user terminal, and may be generated by, for example, deleting or encrypting a portion of the undegraded data. The higher quality version may be provided by transmitting the complete higher quality version, or transmitting remaining data such as the deleted portion or a decryption key, to the user terminal.
Inventors
- 👤 Jonathan Brandon Allen
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-08 08:09
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/20; H04N21/25; H04N21/254; H04N21/2543; G; G06; G06Q; G06Q20/00; G06Q20/08; G06Q20/085; H04L; H04L12/00; H04L12/02; H04L12/14; H04L12/141; H04L12/1421; H04L12/1453; H04L12/1464; H04L9/00; H04L9/40; H04L63/00; H04L63/04; H04L63/0428
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim
60 words
A method of delivering data over a communication network, comprising the steps of: providing a partially-degraded version of the data over the network to a customer at a user terminal connected to the network; and providing a higher quality version of the data to the customer over the network if the customer is entitled to receive the higher quality version.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a partially-degraded version of the data includes providing the partially-degraded version in a substantially recognizable form suitable for limited usage.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the step of providing a partially-degraded version of the data further includes providing the partially-degraded version without receiving a royality fee payment from the customer.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
32 words
The method of any of the preceding claims wherein the step of providing a higher quality version includes providing the higher quality version upon receiving a royalty fee payment from the customer.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
34 words
The method of any of the preceding claims wherein the step of providing a higher quality version of the data to the customer over the network includes providing an undegraded version of the data.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
54 words
The method of any of the preceding claims wherein the step of providing a higher quality version of the data to the customer over the network includes transmitting remaining data to the customer such that the remaining data and the partially-degraded version of the data together provide the higher quality version of the data.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
40 words
The method of any of claims 1 to 5 wherein the step of providing a higher quality version of the data to the customer over the network includes transmitting the complete higher quality version of the data to the customer.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
72 words
The method of any of claims 1 to 3 wherein the step of providing a higher quality version of the data includes the steps of: providing the customer with an option to select from a plurality of increasingly higher quality versions of the data; and providing the selected higher quality version to the customer over the network upon payment of a royalty fee in an amount corresponding to the selected data quality.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
70 words
The method of any of the preceding claims further including the steps of: receiving a request for the data from the customer at the user terminal; retrieving the requested data from an information database; partially degrading the data to produce the partially-degraded version; transmitting the partially-degraded version to the customer over the communication network; and determining whether the customer is entitled to receive the higher quality version of the data.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 9 wherein the step of partially degrading the data includes encrypting a portion of the data.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 9 further including the step of storing remaining data in a temporary storage location after the request is received.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
91 words
A system for delivering data to a user terminal over a communication network, comprising: a provider database connected to the network and containing the data; a digital data processor connected to the provider database for processing a request for the data from a customer at the user terminal, such that a partially-degraded version of the data is provided over the network to the customer, and a higher quality version of the data is provided to the customer over the network if the customer is entitled to receive the higher quality version.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system of claim 12 wherein the partially-degraded version of the data is in a substantially recognizable form suitable for limited usage.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
29 words
The system of claim 12 or claim 13 wherein the digital data processor is arranged to provide the partially-degraded version of the data without payment of a royalty fee.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
38 words
The system of any of claims 12 to 14 wherein the digital data processor is arranged to determine if the customer is entitled to receive the higher quality version by determining if a royalty payment has been received.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
37 words
The system of any of claims 12 to 15 further including temporary storage means arranged to store remaining data for a predetermined period of time after the partially-degraded version of the data is provided to the customer.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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